Still windy
19th February 2026
Although not as windy as yesterday there were still gale force South-South-Easterly winds today. It was a cold start with the temperature slowly rising through the day. In the morning it was quite clear with just a few summit clouds. During the day it got cloudier and there was a little very light snow.
The strong winds have blown away much of the soft snow leaving areas of hard windslab and areas of firm and icy older snow. Crampons were useful for mountain walking today. At lower elevations paths are getting quite icy.
Photos below from Aonach Mor.
Raised footprints are a good indicator of wind erosion. If this was on a windward slope I’d be worried about where the missing snow had been deposited. This was however on a leeward slope and I think that the eroded snow has been blown into the atmosphere and sublimated into water vapour.
There is a weakness between the hard windslab and the firm, icy layer below. A slab could be made to shear where it was very shallow, around 5cm here being an example. Where the slab was deeper it formed a firm bridging layer and stability was much better.
Looking up the goose. Despite this being the ‘sheltered’ side of the mountain the recent strong winds have blown down the hill blowing much of the softer snow away. The slightly greyer areas are firm and icy older snow with the whiter areas being hard windslab.
Carn Mor Dearg during clearer conditions in the morning.
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